CENTRAL — The town of Central announced Tuesday they are suspending curbside recycling effective April 28. The last pickup of recycling will occur on Monday April 27 and the Sanitation Department will collect the bins when they pick-up the recycling on that day, officials said.
Central Mayor Clyde “Mac” Martin said in a statement on Tuesday he hopes to one day reinstate the recycling program, but at the current time it was “not feasible to continue.”
“The Town of Central elected officials have always prided themselves in the fact that we were one of the first recycling programs in Pickens County which was started over 20 years ago long before it was popular to recycle,” said Martin. “At the present time, recycling has become very difficult with restrictive requirements as set forth by the recycling companies where the collected items are transferred.”
Martin said due to economic changes — and historically low oil prices which drive the recycling effort — companies have become more and more restrictive as to what they will accept to recycle and how it’s delivered.
“Although, we have never thought of recycling as a money-making endeavor, we are not getting any money from the recycling company to assist in covering the costs to collect recyclables,” he said. “Companies are now requiring that we separate the recycling by product and separate the different color of glass. They will only take recycling plastic number 1 and 2. This required process to meet the new recycling requirements is very labor intensive and costly for the town.”
With the new list of items that recycling companies will accept, most of what the town used to recycle is no longer being accepted, he said.
“Most of these circumstances are market driven and out of our control,” Martin said.
In the short-term, officials said Pickens County Recycling Center will accept presorted recycling items. They are located at 600 Chastain Road, Central with the Cardboard/Oil recycling drop-off site located at 415 Gaines Street by the old jail/depot.
“On behalf of all the Town of Central’s elected officials, I would like to thank the citizens for their recycling efforts and their continued support,” said Martin. “We look forward to the future when we can restart our recycling program.”
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